‘Judge Judy’ Reality Courtroom Drama To End After 25 Years

One of TV‘s most popular shows, Judge Judy, is coming to an end in 2021 after 25 seasons, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Judge Judy Sheindlin, the show’s namesake, spoke about the end of the long-running series in an upcoming interview with Ellen DeGeneres.

“I’ve had a 25-year marriage with CBS and it’s been successful,” Sheindlin, 77, said in a clip from the interview.

Sheindlin stated that the network also wanted to “optimally utilize the repeats” of Judge Judy.

“Now they have 25 years of my reruns. What they decided to do is sell a couple of years’ worth of reruns,” she added.

Sheindlin said that CBS plans to lean on reruns of her syndicated courtroom show, which they purchased in 2017 for nearly $100 million, instead of commissioning more seasons — and the network has plenty of material to choose from. To date, more than 5,000 episodes of television’s most popular courtroom drama have been broadcast, which boasts 9 million views a day.

Next year will mark the “silver anniversary” of the series, and Sheindlin believes that it will be Judge Judy’s best season ever.

For her part, the TV judge says she’s still not tired of working after nearly 40 years of sitting on the bench, echoing her conversation with DeGeneres in 2018. In that previous interview, Sheindlin said that she had a few years left on her contract and planned to keep doing what she loved after it was up. She felt that her age was not a factor in her ability to keep serving justice with grit and style, and that still rings true for her.

In fact, she announced in the upcoming interview that she plans to release a new show, Judy Justice, in 2022. Though she did not reveal her new show’s final destination, she said that it would run for a full year and feature all-new episodes.

“Isn’t that fun?” Sheindlin added.

CBS has neither commented on the end of Judge Judy nor Sheindlin’s departure.

Sheindlin first rose to prominence in the early ’90s after 60 Minutes filmed her in action. Judge Judy premiered three years later, thrusting the tough-talking New Yorker further into the spotlight. Her gruff personality, iconic lace collar, and memorable quips have earned her the spot as television’s highest-paid television personality. Sheindlin earns a reported $47 million per year.

In 2019, she was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Daytime Emmys. Actress Amy Poehler presented Sheindlin with the award, and said that Judge Judy is the “Jewish mother we all want.”